10 - Majority and Minority: Preserving Animist and Mystical Practices in Far East Java

Summary

Banyuwangi is the easternmost of more than eighty administrative districts in contemporary Java. In this district, there are several small but identifiable minorities, including Hindus, Catholics, Protestants, and modernist Muslims. However, the minorities this chapter is concerned with are adherents to mystical and animist practices and beliefs residing in several unique villages. The question I seek to address is how to account for the animist and mystical adherence in these villages in relation to widespread conformity to traditionalist Islam. To answer this, I point to cultural revitalization, state's multicultural, and tourism policies in the face of an Islamic revival. I first provide a brief overview of the religious history of Banyuwangi (I will use the term “Banyuwangi” to refer to the whole district; when referring specifically to the large urban area which is the capital, I will use the phrase “Banyuwangi City”). I then describe the religious culture of the traditionalist majority in Banyuwangi. Following this, I consider the small minority of mystics and animists who are, for the most part, limited to a cluster of four villages. Finally, I consider the historical forces, which account for the uniqueness of the animists and mystics against the widespread conformity in the rest of Banyuwangi.

RELIGIOUS HISTORY OF BANYUWANGI

The earliest evidence of human inhabitation in this area is provided by megalithic remains excavated in Bondowoso, to the west of the Banyuwangi district. Dated around 670–1360, these comprise a stone enclosure and a number of dolmen (stone grave sites) (Prasetyo 2006, p. 167). They are consistent with the pre-Indic, local ancestral, and animistic beliefs and practices of the Southeast Asian region in the pre-historic period (Reid 1993, pp. 136–40; Warren 1993a, pp. 44–45). By 1316, a Hindu– Buddhist dominion called “Blambangan” existed within the borders of contemporary Banyuwangi. Blambangan (c. 1316–1767) was at the eastern reaches of the Majapahit kingdom (1294–1478) and seems to have swung between autonomy and subjugation to Majapahit.

The decline of Majapahit coincided with the rise of the first Islamic kingdoms in Java. Accompanying this, according to Javanese legend, was an exodus of Hindu–Buddhists from these newly Islamic areas towards Blambangan and Bali, which still adhered to Hindu–Buddhist beliefs (Cortesao 1944, p. 198; Hakluyt 1904, pp. 338–39).